How should businesses and law firms recognize the "return on investment" of blogging? Should they try to analytically quantify the benefits, reducing them to dollars?Charlene Li of Forrester suggests that there's value to quantifying the ROI of blogging. And in a recent report that Li prepared, she proposes various metrics for determining the financial benefits of blogging (also described in her post) such as savings on search engine optimization or avoided cost of hiring a "buzz agent." Li defends her analytical approach, asserting:

At the core of my bleeding heart pumps the soul of a pragmatist. Sure,
I buy into all of the positive, feel good reasons to have a blog. But
when your manager asks why the company has a blog versus spending more
time and resources on XYZ initiatives, it sure would be helpful to be
able to show a spreadsheet of those blogging benefits in dollars and
cents.

Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog takes a slightly different view on the ROI of blogging. He believes that blogging brings value in that it enhances a lawyer's reputation. But he also suggests that blogging shouldn't be held to a higher, or different, analytical standard for judging ROI than traditional marketing techniques like taking clients to lunch, publishing articles and networking. O'Keefe points out that you don't measure the effectiveness of those marketing practices in dollars and cents. Rather:

You measure it by the fact that those lawyers who do these things tend
to be recognized as leaders and get more work. Over the years, we've
come to accept this type of reputation building, networking, and
relationship building as something that is key to the marketing of a
professional services firm.

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The ROI of Blogging: Is Blogging Held to a Different Standard?

How should businesses and law firms recognize the "return on investment" of blogging? Should they try to analytically quantify the benefits, reducing them to dollars?Charlene Li of Forrester suggests that there's value to quantifying the ROI of blogging. And in a recent report that Li prepared, she proposes various metrics for determining the financial benefits of blogging (also described in her post) such as savings on search engine optimization or avoided cost of hiring a "buzz agent." Li defends her analytical approach, asserting:

At the core of my bleeding heart pumps the soul of a pragmatist. Sure,
I buy into all of the positive, feel good reasons to have a blog. But
when your manager asks why the company has a blog versus spending more
time and resources on XYZ initiatives, it sure would be helpful to be
able to show a spreadsheet of those blogging benefits in dollars and
cents.

Kevin O'Keefe of LexBlog takes a slightly different view on the ROI of blogging. He believes that blogging brings value in that it enhances a lawyer's reputation. But he also suggests that blogging shouldn't be held to a higher, or different, analytical standard for judging ROI than traditional marketing techniques like taking clients to lunch, publishing articles and networking. O'Keefe points out that you don't measure the effectiveness of those marketing practices in dollars and cents. Rather:

You measure it by the fact that those lawyers who do these things tend
to be recognized as leaders and get more work. Over the years, we've
come to accept this type of reputation building, networking, and
relationship building as something that is key to the marketing of a
professional services firm.